Response time-based scoring on DVD players

ABSTRACT

A DVD player-readable medium bearing DVD player-executable instructions for carrying out a game on the DVD player is presented. The game, as implemented by the DVD player-executable instructions comprises selecting a puzzle from a plurality of puzzles stored on the DVD player-readable medium. Once a puzzle is selected, the puzzle is displayed to a player via an output device connected to the DVD player. A graduated timer is started/output. The graduated timer includes at least two gradations, and each gradation corresponds to a scoring value. A player&#39;s response is obtained. A response value is determined according to the current gradation of the graduated timer in which the player response is obtained. The player&#39;s score is incremented according to the determined response value.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.60/648,798, filed Jan. 31, 2005.

BACKGROUND

Typical DVD players, i.e., consumer electronic devices designed toprimarily play digital video discs (DVDs), are very limited in theirability to do much more than play audio/visual content on DVDs. Forexample, as those skilled in the art will appreciate, DVD players areextremely limited as to the amount of dynamic/programmable memoryavailable for general use on the DVD player. Furthermore, DVD playersconforming to the DVD Video specification have only a limited set ofinstructions through which an author can use to program features intothe content of a DVD disc. For these reasons, as well as others, thepeople most familiar with DVD standards, content authoring, and thelike, have always viewed a DVD player as merely a “dumb” componentdesigned to play audio tracks and display movies on a connected displaydevice and/or speakers from a DVD video disc.

While DVD players are very limited in memory and instruction sets, theyare typically combined in audio/visual entertainment systems thatprovide many aspects of a typical game system. For example, FIG. 1 is apictorial diagram of an exemplary audio/visual entertainment system 100including a DVD player 102. More particularly, the DVD player 102 istypically controlled by a user via a remote control device 106, and, aspart of an audio/visual entertainment system 100, is attached either viacable or wirelessly to one or more audio output devices 110 and adisplay device 108. Additionally, when considering the discs that DVDplayers read/play, such as DVD Video disc 104, as well as othercompatible formats like audio compact discs (CDs), the typical DVDplayer 102 includes massive amounts of static, read-only storage fromwhich game information may be read. Unfortunately, due to the limitedinstructions, the lack of dynamically programmable memory, as well asperceived limitations, the DVD player has been largely ignored by thegame industry.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, some content providers (viaDVD video discs suitable for play on a DVD player) have tried to addadditional entertainment to their content by including extras on theDVDs that they provide. For example, many movies are provided with extracontent on the one or more DVD video discs distributed with the movie.However, these extras are mostly simple “games” in which the DVD playerpresents a series of multiple choice or true/false questions for a“player/user” to answer. A user selects one of the answers using theremote control device 106. If the user selects the correct answer, theDVD player displays a “correct” audio/visual clip to the user/player.Alternatively, if the user's answer was incorrect, the DVD playerdisplays an incorrect audio/visual clip. In either case, the “game” thencontinues to the next question in the series. Clearly, while suchquestion and answer sessions may provide additional entertainment to thecontent, on the whole, the entire experience is rather limited. In fact,the questions are usually only fun once, as the same questions arepresented in the same order each time the “game” is played.

Recently, innovative and novel applications of the DVD video instructionset with regard to content stored on a DVD video disc have resulted in arealization that the DVD player can be used in more sophisticatedentertainment/games. For example, at least one innovative company hasintroduced trivia style games used in conjunction with a typicalconsumer DVD player, where the DVD player selects audio/visual clips andpuzzles from a DVD video disc in an apparent random fashion withoutrepeats. An explanation of this technology and game can be found incommonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/438,174, filed May13, 2003, entitled “DVD Game,” and also in commonly assigned U.S. Pat.No. 6,987,925 B2, entitled “DVD Random Shuffle Method,” both of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

While some DVD player-based games now exist, many aspects of typicalgame playing found in most modern game systems are still not found. Asone example, many games/game systems reward a player based on the speedwith which the player responds with the correct answer. In other words,a higher score is awarded to the player that answers correctly in lesstime. Of course, just as other aspects of DVD player games, responsetime-based scoring has been viewed as unavailable on DVD players.

In light of the above, it would be useful if DVD players could beutilized in such a manner to provide a more robust gaming experience.The present invention addresses this and other issues associated withDVD players as found in the prior art.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features ofthe claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid indetermining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

According to aspects of the present invention, a DVD player-readablemedium bearing DVD player-executable instructions for carrying out agame on the DVD player is presented. The game, as implemented by the DVDplayer-executable instructions comprises selecting a puzzle from aplurality of puzzles stored on the DVD player-readable medium. Once apuzzle is selected, the puzzle is displayed to a player via an outputdevice connected to the DVD player. A graduated timer is started/output.The graduated timer includes at least two gradations, and each gradationcorresponds to a scoring value. A player's response is obtained. Aresponse value is determined according to the current gradation of thegraduated timer in which the player response is obtained. The player'sscore is incremented according to the determined response value.

According to further aspects of the present invention, a method forimplementing a response time-based scoring timer on a DVD player throughinstructions recorded on DVD player-readable media, is presented. Themethod comprises the following steps. Timer content is output via theDVD player on a display device. The timer content is segmented intogradations, with each gradation corresponding to a particular scoringvalue. User input is obtained by the DVD player via an input deviceduring the output of the timer content. The gradation of the timercontent in which the user input was received is determined. The scoringvalue associated with determined gradation is then determined.

According to still further aspects of the present invention, a DVDplayer-readable media bearing DVD player-executable instructions ispresented. When executed on a DVD player, the DVD player-executableinstructions implement a response time-based scoring feature on the DVDplayer. The DVD player-readable media comprises content suitable foroutput by the DVD player onto a display device. The DVD player-readablemedia further comprises instructions suitable for controlling the outputof content by the DVD player to the display device. At least one timerportion of the content and instructions on the DVD player-readablemedia, when performed on the DVD player, implement a response time-basedscoring algorithm for providing a score to a user's input.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial diagram of an exemplary audio/visual entertainmentsystem including a DVD player and suitable for implementing aspects ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary routine forimplementing a game on a DVD player utilizing a response time-basedscoring algorithm;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary routine fordisplaying a puzzle to a user/player and returning a score based on aresponse time-based scoring algorithm;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary routine illustratinga rapid play game routine for displaying a plurality of puzzles during apredetermined amount of time to a player with a response time-basedscoring algorithm;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary rapid play gameroutine for displaying a plurality of puzzles to a player in apredetermined amount of time using a response time-based scoringalgorithm;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an alternative exemplary rapidplay game routine for displaying a plurality of puzzles to a player in apredetermined amount of time using a response time-based scoringalgorithm;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary routine fordisplaying a selected puzzle to a player and determining a score forthat player according to a response time-based scoring algorithm;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary timer content dividedinto gradations and for further illustrating implementation aspects ofresponse time-based scoring.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description provides exemplary implementations ofthe invention. Although specific system configurations and flow diagramsare illustrated herein, it should be understood that the examplesprovided are not exhaustive and do not limit the invention to theprecise forms disclosed. Persons having ordinary skill in the field ofprocessing online orders will recognize components and process stepsdescribed herein that may be interchangeable with other components orsteps, or combinations of components or steps, and still achieve thebenefits and advantages of the present invention.

It should be noted that the following discussion of the presentinvention is made in terms of a DVD player playing content from anoptical disc configured according to the DVD-Video specification. TheDVD player discussed herein is envisioned as a typical, consumer devicefor playing DVD-Video formatted discs, which are the typical format uponwhich most movies are released to the public. As such, the typicalconsumer-available DVD player is considered a “dumb device” in that itis not readily programmed by a user-consumer. Accordingly, theprogramming and content associated with the present invention are foundon the DVD-Video disc.

As mentioned above, the typical DVD player integrated within anaudio/visual entertainment system 100 is suitable for implementingaspects of the present invention. More particularly, according toaspects of the present invention, the typical DVD player 102 can beprogrammed using DVD-Video's standard features to implement a gamesystem that includes sophisticated random clip/puzzle selection as wellas scoring, including graduated scoring based on a user's response timeto a particular puzzle. Examples of DVD player systems that provideentertainment as a game and of selecting clips and puzzles from themedia in an apparent random fashion without repeats is found in theabove-described references, “DVD Game” and “DVD Random Shuffle Method.”

As indicated above, those skilled in the art will appreciate that theoperations of a DVD player 102 are generally controlled by the DVDplayer-specific instructions and content stored on the media played bythe DVD player, such as DVD 104. By innovatively applying theinstructions of the DVD player 102, an entertaining game can bepresented to the user.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the instructions thatcontrol a DVD player 102 are found in titles and chapters recorded onthe DVD-Video compliant media. However, while the instructions are soarranged, logically they can be described in the form of routines andsubroutines. Thus, in accordance with aspects of the present invention,FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary routine 200 forimplementing a game on a DVD player using a response time-based scoringalgorithm.

Beginning at block 202, the DVD player 102 is instructed to initializeplayer scores. For example, if the game is a two-player game, scores forboth players would be initialized to zero. Player scores are storedwithin one of the general programming registers (GPRMs) available on theDVD player 102 as they are typically the only dynamically programmablememory locations. The number of GPRMs is limited: DVD players includesixteen GPRMs which hold 16 bit values, clearly very limited forprogramming use. Accordingly, depending on how efficient a particularprogram makes of the available GPRMs, the number of concurrent playersis fairly limited. However, solely for the purpose of the illustration,the following discussion will be made in regard to a game with twoplayers.

At block 204, a first player is selected. At block 206, a puzzle isselected. In many games it is preferable to randomly select (or moreprecisely pseudo-randomly select) puzzles from a large number of puzzlesstored on the DVD disc. An exemplary method for randomly selectingpuzzles from a large number of stored puzzles is described in greaterdetail in the above-incorporated reference, “DVD Random Shuffle Method.”

After selecting a puzzle for the selected player, at block 208, asubroutine is called that displays the puzzle to the player, obtains theplayer's input/response, and returns the player's score in response,according to a response time-based scoring algorithm. An exemplarysubroutine to display a puzzle, obtain the player's response, and returna player's score according to a response time-based scoring algorithm isdiscussed below in regard to FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary routine 300 fordisplaying a puzzle to a player, obtaining the player's response, andreturning a score based on a response time-based scoring algorithm.Beginning at block 302, the selected puzzle (from block 206 of FIG. 2)is displayed by the DVD player 102 on the display device 108 (FIG. 1) tothe user/player. At block 304, a graduated zone timer is commenced anddisplayed. While listed separately in this exemplary flow diagram,preferably, the graduated timer is commenced and the puzzle is displayedsimultaneously, or as near to simultaneously as possible.

As indicated by its name, the graduated timer is associated with aplurality of gradations, and each gradation is associated with apredetermined number of points, with the higher number of pointsassociated with the first gradations. In other words, the number ofpoints awarded for a correct answer is inversely related to the amountof time the user/player takes to respond correctly. For example, if thegraduated timer were segmented into three gradations, the firstgradation would be associated with the maximum amount of points, thesecond gradation would be associated with a lesser amount of points, andthe third gradation would be associated with the least amount of points.Answering the puzzle correctly during the first gradation earns theplayer the maximum amount of points. Similarly, correctly answering thepuzzle during a subsequent gradation earns the player the pointsassociated with the gradation in which the puzzle was correctlyanswered. Of course, the example above of three gradations isillustrative only and should not be construed as limiting upon thepresent invention. A timer with any number of gradations may beutilized, limited only by the abilities of the DVD player and thefunctional aspects of the timer implementation utilized.

After starting the timer, at delay block 306, the routine 300 awaits anevent, and in particular, a player response event or a graduated timerexpiration event. At decision block 308, a determination is made as towhether the event was the expiration of the graduated timer. If not,meaning that the player responded, at block 310, the current graduatedtimer gradation is obtained. At decision block 312, a determination ismade as to whether the player response was correct. If the playerresponded correctly, at block 314, the score associated with theobtained gradation is returned, and the routine 300 terminates. However,if the player responded incorrectly, at block 316, the correct answermay be displayed, a score of zero is returned, and the routine 300terminates. Similarly, if, at decision block 308, a graduated timerexpiration event was received meaning that the user/player failed torespond in the given amount of time, the correct answer may bedisplayed, a score of zero is returned, and the routine 300 terminates.

Returning again to FIG. 2, after obtaining the returned score for theplayer, at block 210, the score is added to the selected player'scurrent total. At decision block 210, a determination is made as towhether the game is now ended. The end of a game may be reached in avariety of manners, including permitting each player to respond to apredetermined number of puzzles, exhausting the supply of puzzles, ordetermining whether that one player has reached a threshold score thatindicates that player has won, and the like.

If the end of game is reached, the routine 200 terminates. However, ifthe end of game is not reached, at block 214, the next player isselected, and the routine 200 returns to block 206. At block 206, theroutine 200 selects a puzzle for the selected player, and the processdescribed above is repeated.

While FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary routine 200 in which playersalternate between answering puzzles, in an alternative embodiment, eachplayer is given a period of time in which to answer a plurality ofpuzzles. FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary routineillustrating an exemplary “rapid play” game routine 400 for displaying aplurality of puzzles during a predetermined amount of time to a playerwith the scoring of the player's answers determined according to aresponse time-based scoring algorithm.

Beginning at block 402, the exemplary routine 400 initializes the playerscores. At block 404, a first player is selected. At block 406, a rapidplay sequence is presented to the selected player. Rapid play sequencesare described below in alternative embodiments in regard to FIG. 5 or 6.

After the rapid play sequence for the selected player, at decision block412, a determination is made as to whether the game is to terminate.Game termination may be based on a number of criteria, including thoseidentified above in regard to the exemplary routine 200 of FIG. 2. Ifthe game is to continue, at block 414, a next player is selected, andthe routine 400 returns again to block 406 to present the selectedplayer with a rapid play sequence. The routine 400 continues, until atdecision block 412, it is determined that the end of the game isreached, whereupon the routine 400 terminates.

With respect to the above-mentioned rapid play sequence, FIG. 5 is aflow diagram illustrating an exemplary rapid play game routine 500 fordisplaying a plurality of puzzles to a player in a predetermined amountof time using a response time-based scoring algorithm. Beginning atblock 502, a puzzle is selected for presentation to the selected player.At block 504, the selected player's rapid play sequence turn timer isstarted. This turn timer is used to establish the amount of time theselected player has to answer/respond to the plurality of puzzles.

At block 506, the selected puzzle is displayed to the player, and aresponse value is returned according to whether the player respondedcorrectly to the puzzle and the amount of time in which the playerresponded correctly. Displaying the puzzle and determining and returninga response value based on the amount of time in which it takes torespond to the puzzle is described in greater detail below in regard toFIG. 7.

After obtaining the response value for the player's response to thepuzzle, at block 508, the response value is added to the player's total.At decision block 510, a determination is made as to whether there ismore time remaining in the player's turn, i.e., has the turn timerexpired. If there is more time remaining, at block 512, another puzzleis selected, and the routine 500 returns to block 506 to display theselected puzzle and get the player's response value. This processcontinues until, at decision block 510, there is no more time remainingfor the selected player's turn due to the expiration of the turn timer,whereupon the routine 500 terminates.

As can be seen from the above routine 500, a selected player's turncontinues until the player's turn expires. In a contrasting embodiment,FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary rapid play gameroutine 600 for displaying a plurality of puzzles to a player in apredetermined amount of time using a response time-based scoringalgorithm, continuing within the time associated with the turn and aslong as the player responds correctly to each puzzle.

With regard to FIG. 6, at block 602, a puzzle is selected forpresentation to the selected player. At block 604, the selected player'srapid play sequence turn timer is started. As mentioned above in regardto routine 500 (FIG. 5), this turn timer is used to establish the amountof time the selected player has to answer/respond to the plurality ofpuzzles in this rapid play sequence.

At block 606, the selected puzzle is displayed to the player, and aresponse value is returned according to whether the player respondedcorrectly to the puzzle and the amount of time in which the playerresponded correctly. Displaying the puzzle and determining and returninga response value based on the amount of time in which it takes torespond to the puzzle is described in greater detail below in regard toFIG. 7.

After obtaining the response value for the player's response to thepuzzle, at decision block 608, a determination is made as to whether theplayer responded correctly to the selected puzzle. If the player did notrespond correctly (or perhaps failed to respond to the puzzle), theroutine 600 terminates. Determining whether the player respondedcorrectly to the puzzle may be made in a variety of manners, but in oneembodiment, a response value of zero could be used to identify that theplayer responded incorrectly or not at all.

If the player responded correctly, at block 610, the response value isadded to the player's total. As mentioned above, the response value is afunction of the amount of time that the player takes to respondcorrectly to the selected puzzle. At decision block 612, anotherdetermination is made, this one as to whether there is more timeremaining in the player's turn, i.e., has the turn timer expired. Ifthere is more time remaining, at block 614, another puzzle is selected,and the routine 600 returns to block 606 to display the selected puzzleand get the player's response value. This process continues until, atdecision block 612, there is no more time remaining for the selectedplayer's turn or the player responds incorrectly, whereupon the routine600 terminates.

As indicated above, FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplaryroutine 700 for displaying a selected puzzle to a player and determininga response score for that player according to a response time-basedscoring algorithm, i.e., scoring based on the time it takes the playerto respond to the selected puzzle. Beginning at block 702, the puzzle isdisplayed to the player. In addition to displaying the puzzle to theplayer and as concurrently as possible with displaying the puzzle, atblock 704, a graduated timer is started. As discussed above in regard toroutine 300 of FIG. 3, this graduated timer is segmented into sectionswith each section corresponding to a certain number of points.

At block 706, the routine 700 awaits an event. In this instance, theevents may be a player response, the expiration of the graduated timer,or the expiration of the selected player's turn timer. At decision block708, a determination is made as to whether the event indicated that itwas the end of the player's turn, i.e., whether the turn timer expired.If it is the end of the player's turn, the routine 700 terminates andreturns a zero as the response value. However, if the event was not anindication of the end of the player's turn, the routine 700 proceeds todecision block 710.

At decision block 710, a determination is made as to whether thegraduated timer expired, the graduated timer corresponding to the amountof time the player has to respond to the selected puzzle. As with theturn time above, if the graduated timer has expired, the routine 700terminates and returns a zero as the response value.

If the event was a player response, at decision block 712, a finaldetermination is made as to whether the player's response was thecorrect response. If the player responded correctly, the routine 700terminates and the response value associated with the current gradationon the graduated timer is returned. Alternatively, if the playerresponded incorrectly, the routine 700 terminates and returns a zero asthe response value.

With regard to displaying a puzzle and a graduated timer, while theabove description has been presented as though they are distinctentities, it is for illustration purposes only, and should not beconstrued as limiting upon the present invention. In an actualembodiment, both the puzzle and the timer may be part of a singleaudio/visual clip. In fact, a graduated timer may be implemented in avariety of manners.

With regard to implementing a response time-based scoring algorithm on aDVD player, according to one embodiment, the content author determines anumber of gradations (scoring gradations) into which the response time(and therefore the timer content) is divided. For example, assume thatthe content author determines that there will be three gradations (orsegments) of the timer content for answering the puzzles, whereanswering a puzzle during the first gradation/segment earns a maximumscore (such as 5 points), answering the puzzle during the second timegradation/segment earns a middle score (such as 3 points), and answeringthe puzzle during the third time segment earns a minimum score (such as1 point). Of course, failure to respond earns no points.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary timer content dividedinto gradations and for further illustrating implementation aspects ofresponse time-based scoring. In accordance with the above example, asshown in FIG. 8, a timer content 800 is segmented into three gradations,802-806.

Once the content author identifies the gradations, I-Frames (orI-Pictures) are inserted into the timer content at a locationcorresponding to the beginning of each time gradation. Content 800′illustrates the updated timer content. Thus, with regard to the aboveexample, a first I-Frame 808 is inserted into the beginning of the timercontent 800′. A third of the way through the timer content a secondI-Frame 810 is added to the content. Similarly, two thirds of the waythrough the timer content a third I-Frame 812 is added.

Along with each I-Frame, a subpicture is added to each gradation of thetimer content, such as subpictures 814-818. Each subpicture is addedsuch that it extends or spans the entire time of the correspondinggradation. Each subpicture includes (not shown) the coding that detectsthe player's input, determines whether the player correctly responded tothe puzzle, and awards a score according to the current gradation orsegment of the timer content. Further, the coding also links to aprogram chain (PGC) according to the correctness of the player'sresponse. In continuing the example above, if the player respondscorrectly to a puzzle during the first gradation, the correspondingfirst subpicture will award maximum points for the correct response, andfurther break out of the timer content and link to a PGC associated withvisually validating to the player that the response was correct.Similarly, an incorrect response will result in linking to a PGC fornotifying the player of an incorrect response.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that DVD video content willtypically include numerous I-Frames. I-Frames are full images and aresubsequently modified by B-Frames and P-Frames (which include only thedifferences to be made to the I-Frames). Indeed, every group of pictures(GOP) has at least one I-Frame. Moreover, scene changes and evensubstantial modifications are marked with I-Frames. However, by manuallyinserting I-Frames and subpictures at precise locations in timercontent, a graduated timer may be realized. Thus, by properly insertingI-Frames and subpictures in the timer content, the timer contentdisplayed to the player is seamless, and permits a content author todetermine the number of gradations in the graduated timer and the codeto detect and process a score according to a particular gradation. Theactual number graduations is limited only by the DVD specifications andlimitations.

While the use of I-Frames and subpictures is one embodiment forproviding a graduated timer, other alternatives are also possible. Forexample, in one embodiment, I-Frames are again added at the beginning ofeach gradation/segment. However, rather than adding subpictures thatobtains the player's response, awards points, and links to anappropriate response segment, a cell command increments a counter in aGPRM, the counter being initialized to zero. When the player respondscorrectly, the counter is accessed to determine which time gradation iscurrently active, and points are awarded to the time gradationaccordingly. One of the drawbacks with cell commands is thatpresentation of the audio/visual content is at least momentarilyinterrupted, thereby giving the user a seamed, or “jerky” presentation.

Yet another alternative is to set a GPRM into timer mode at the start ofdisplaying a puzzle. When the puzzle is answered correctly, the currentvalue of the GPRM is extracted and used to determine the score.Unfortunately, the GPRM timer mode counts in “ticks”, not seconds.Additionally, one of the limited GPRMs (the GPRM used as a timer)becomes “unavailable” for other programmable use. Furthermore, disparateDVD players generate these “ticks” at different rates. Some DVD playerscount “ticks” as much as ten times faster than others. A solution,though, is to have previously tested the DVD player against a benchmarkcontent to determine its rate of counting ticks. To do this, a GPRM isset into timer mode and a clip with a known time length is run. When theclip ends, the number of clips is retrieved and used to determine therate of “ticks” per second. Thus, when a puzzle is answered correctly,the amount of time that the player used to answer is determinedaccording to the number of ticks in the GPRM, adjusted according to thenumber of ticks per second the DVD player generates.

As another alternative embodiment, and of a similar nature to setting aGPRM into timer mode, the DVD video specification includes a navigationtimer command. The navigation timer command counts down until there is auser input. Like the GPRM, the navigation timer command counts in“ticks,” which, of course, may vary substantially between machines inregard to the amount of time each “tick” represents. Accordingly, aswith the GPRM timer, navigation timer command must be benchmarkedagainst content of a known length of time to determine what a “tick”actually means. Beneficially, however, the navigation timer command doesnot use a GPRM. Unfortunately, while the navigation timer command shouldbe included with each DVD player as it is part of the DVD videospecification, a sampling of current DVD players shows that not all DVDplayers implement this feature. Thus, use of or reliance upon thisfeature runs the risk of failure.

Yet another alternative is to link PGCs together, where each PGCcorresponds to a particular time gradation and responding during theexecution of the PGC earns the player the corresponding score.Unfortunately, like the use of cell commands with counter, linking thePGCs together causes small pauses in the presentation of the content,thus a seamed or jerky presentation may be created.

While various embodiments, including the preferred embodiment, of theinvention have been illustrated and described, it will be appreciatedthat various changes can be made therein without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

1. A DVD player-readable medium bearing DVD player-executableinstructions which, when executed on a DVD player, carry out a game onthe DVD player, comprising: selecting a puzzle from a plurality ofpuzzles stored on the DVD player-readable medium; displaying the puzzleto a player via an output device connected to the DVD player; starting agraduated timer, wherein the graduated timer includes at least twogradations, each gradation corresponding to a scoring value; obtainingthe player's response; determining a response value according to thecurrent gradation of the graduated timer; and incrementing the player'sscore according to the determined response value.
 2. The DVDplayer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein determining a response valueaccording to the current gradation of the graduated timer comprisesdetermining whether the response was a correct response to the puzzleand determine the response value to be zero for an inaccurate response.3. The DVD player-readable medium of claim 2 further comprising, if theresponse was an incorrect response, outputting via the output device anindicator that the response was incorrect.
 4. The DVD player-readablemedium of claim 1, wherein the described elements of the game arerepeated at least once for each player playing the game.
 5. Theplayer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the game further comprisesmonitoring for the expiration of the graduated timer, and if thegraduated timer expires before the player responds to the puzzle,assigning the response value to zero.
 6. A method for implementing aresponse time-based scoring timer on a DVD player through instructionsrecorded on DVD player-readable media, the method comprising:outputting, via the DVD player on a display device timer content,wherein the timer content is segmented into gradations, with eachgradation corresponding to a particular scoring value; obtaining userinput on the DVD player via an input device during the output of thetimer content; determining the gradation of the timer content in whichthe user input was received; and obtaining the scoring value associatedwith determined gradation.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the timercontent is segmented into gradations by placing an I-Frame in the timercontent at the location in the timer content corresponding to the startof each gradation.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein the timer content issegmented into gradations by further placing a subpicture to the timercontent at the start of each gradation.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein each subpicture is authored such that the subpicture spans thelength of its corresponding gradation segment.
 10. The method of claim9, wherein each subpicture is encoded with a scoring value for itscorresponding gradation.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein eachsubpicture includes instructions to detect a user's input and determinewhether the user's input is a valid user input.
 12. The method of claim11, wherein each subpicture further includes instructions to award theencoded scoring value if the user input was valid.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, wherein each subpicture further includes a link to othercontent on the DVD player-readable media according to the correctness ofthe player's response.
 14. A DVD player-readable media bearing DVDplayer-executable instructions which, when executed by on a DVD player,implement a response time-based scoring feature on the DVD player, theDVD player-readable media comprising: content suitable for output by theDVD player to a display device; and instructions suitable forcontrolling the output of content by the DVD player to the displaydevice; wherein at least one timer portion of the content andinstructions on the DVD player-readable media when performed on the DVDplayer, implement a response time-based scoring algorithm for providinga score to a user's input.
 15. The DVD player-readable media of claim14, wherein the at least one timer portion is segmented into a pluralityof gradations, each gradation corresponding to a particular score if theuser responds during that gradation.
 16. The DVD player-readable mediaof claim 15, wherein the at least one timer portion is segmented intogradations by placing an I-Frame in the content at the start of eachgradation.
 17. The DVD player-readable media of claim 16, wherein the atleast one timer portion is segmented into gradations by further placinga subpicture in content at the start of each gradation.
 18. The DVDplayer-readable media of claim 17, wherein each subpicture is authoredsuch that the subpicture spans the length of its corresponding gradationsegment.
 19. The DVD player-readable media of claim 18, wherein eachsubpicture is encoded with a scoring value for its correspondinggradation, and includes instructions that detect a user's input anddetermine whether the user's input is a valid user input.
 20. The DVDplayer-readable media of claim 19, wherein each subpicture furtherincludes instructions to award the encoded scoring value if the userinput was valid.